Major Averages Close Just Off Their Highs For The Session

(RTTNews) - With energy stocks leading the way higher, considerable strength was visible on Wall Street during trading on Wednesday. The gains on the day extended a recent upward move, with the major averages closing higher for the third straight day.

Energy stocks saw substantial strength throughout the session, climbing further off their recent lows amid a sharp increase by the price of crude oil. Crude for February delivery jumped $1.36 to $37.50 a barrel amid the release of a report unexpectedly showing a sharp drop in crude oil inventories.

Reflecting the strength in the energy sector, the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index soared by 6.9 percent, while the NYSE Arca Oil & Gas Index and the Philadelphia Oil Service Index shot up by 4.4 percent and 4.2 percent, respectively.

Significant strength was also visible among steel stocks, as reflected by the 3.8 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Steel Index. With the gain, the index climbed further off the record closing low set last Friday.

Gold stocks also turned in a strong performance on the day, resulting in a 2.3 percent gain by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The strength in the sector came even though the price of gold closed lower.

Chemical, telecom, railroad, and computer hardware stocks also saw considerable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

The major averages ended the day just off their highs for the session. The Dow jumped 185.34 points or 1.1 percent to 17,602.61, the Nasdaq advanced 44.82 points or 0.9 percent to 5,045.93 and the S&P 500 surged up 25.32 points or 1.2 percent to 2,064.29.